Salem - Employers and employees are invited to attend the annual Southern Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Conference Oct. 15-16, 2014, at the Smullin Health Education Center in Medford. The event, themed "The Business of Safety," will include more than 20 sessions on topics ranging from safety leadership to workplace violence.

Oregon's Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA), a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, encourages workers and employers to attend this event to help improve safety and health performance. Employee involvement is a major step in reducing injuries and accidents, and decreasing workers' compensation costs.

Keynote speaker Anil Mathur will talk about creating and sustaining a safety culture through his experience as president and CEO of the Alaska Tanker Company. In 2005, Mathur was named one of the National Safety Council's "CEO?s Who Get It."

"Every company with a long-term, successful safety record ultimately has to deal with the potential for complacency setting in," Mathur said. "My presentation will address how, over a decade, success was achieved in a harsh working environment, and I'll detail what strategies we are using to ensure complacency does not take over."

Erike Young, the global safety manager at Google and Region 1 vice president for the American Society of Safety Engineers, is another featured speaker at the event. Young will discuss enterprise risk management: the operational, financial, strategic, and reputational risks to an organization.

Some of the other conference topics include:

Successful safety committee operations

Risk management fundamentals

Electrical safety

Fall protection basics

Exhibits showcasing the latest in safety and health products and services

Registration for the conference is $130. Single-day conference attendance is $90. For more information about the conference or to register, call Oregon OSHA's Conference Section, 503-378-3272 or 888-292-5247, and select option one, or visit the Conferences webpage at www.orosha.org/conferences​​.

The conference is a joint effort of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), Southern Oregon Chapter and Oregon OSHA.

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About Oregon OSHA:

Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, enforces the state's workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. For more information, go to www.orosha.org.

The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon's largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. For more information, go to www.dcbs.oregon.gov or follow www.twitter.com/OregonDCBS.